By Ari Briggs, JPOST
The State of Israel is a country with one justice system and set of laws for Jews and Arabs alike. Or is it?
In the beginning of the twentieth century, a group of Zionist Jews acquired a parcel of land measuring around 65 hectare (26 acres) in the Negev, in the area of Moshav Nabatim, between Beersheba and Dimona. It was registered in the names of the purchasers in the Land Registry of the British Mandate, and after the establishment of the state, in the Israel Land Registry (Tabu). Over time, their successors’ names were also registered.
However, even though the land was fully registered in the names of the legal owners in the land registry, the Beduin of the Abu Kwider tribe took control of the land and established an illegal settlement called Al-Zarnog. At various times the many landowners wrote to local authorities yet their pleas for help were ignored. Today this illegal settlement contains more than 350 solid structures, mostly homes, all of which were built illegally, on land privately owned by Jews.
There is no need to mention that throughout the years the authorities did not act to prevent the establishment of the settlement and definitely did not move to destroy its illegal buildings.
This week, Regavim, an Israeli not for profit organizationdedicated to the protection of national land, turned to the minister of the interior and other relevant enforcement authorities, in the names of the landowners, to demand the evacuation of the illegal Beduin settlement and the return of the land to its true owners.
In stark contrast to the hundreds of Beduin settlements that were established in recent years on state land in the Negev, Al- Zarnog is built on private land. As such, in accordance with rulings made by the Supreme Court, a settlement or neighborhood established on private land must be demolished. Furthermore the court in similar cases ruled that the state must enforce the law post haste, and take measures to evacuate and destroy the hundreds of homes and other buildings as soon as possible.
In view of the failure today in the Knesset to pass the settlement arrangement bill there is no further legal recourse left but for the government to destroy the Al-Zarnog settlement.
Regavim’s communications this week to the enforcement authorities regarding Al-Zarnog relied clearly on the Supreme Court’s decision regarding the Ulpana neighborhood.
It is important to note, whereas in the Ulpana neighborhood there is a real land dispute with the current residents believing that they purchased the land legally, no such hindrance exists in Al-Zarnog.
Could it be possible that the state prosecutor, the attorney general and even the prime minister will adopt a position regarding Al- Zarnog that is different from the one they took and continue to take regarding the Ulpana neighborhood? That would be shocking, wouldn’t it? The State of Israel is a country with one justice system and set of laws for Jews and Arabs alike as stated clearly in our Declaration of Independence. Or is it?
@ Catarin:
Catarin
“I also read many of these Bedouins used to be Jews and have ancient artifacts to prove it.”
A Maronite Christian told me when Islam conquered with “fire and sword” the poor Jews who couldn’t pay the infidel tax were forced to convert and most of them, over 80% are Jews who were forced to convert to Islam. The Christians in Lebanon were able to escape by hiding in the mountains but it was not as mountainous around Israel.
This issue is a tough one. In Arizona decades ago there was a case in the courts for over ten years between the Hopi Indians and the Navajo Indians over the Hopi complaint that Navajos were living on Hopi Land (the two reservations abut). Eventually the Hopis won, and Navajo families who had lived on their land for over a hundred years had to move.
Right now there is a serious problem in Brazil where the indigenous Indians are having their lands taken away by the state and companies who have megafarms and mining interests or other businesses on their land. Things have gotten violent with the murder of Indians by these entities. The Indians are beginning to rally but are fairly helpless to combat this. The Rain Forest is being gobbled up which bodes ill will for Mother Earth.
Being that the Bedouins are also an indigenous people of the Holy Land, along with the Jews, I hope Israel will do what it takes to settle them fairly in places where they can earn a living. I read Israel has opened an agricultural school in the area to teach the locals how to farm. I also read many of these Bedouins used to be Jews and have ancient artifacts to prove it.
Gary Said:
Hectare=2.741 Acre total of 160 Acres. A small difference, especially in Greater Israel…
How true. This is a great article for stating the situation exactly as it is. The liberal establishment has goals that have betrayed the dream of returning to Zion, and their actions erode the great mission of resettling Jews in their land. What is not stated is that some have accepted bribes of various sorts to make this happen, but those are secret affairs, hidden from our public sight. Some people would sell their grandmother’s grave for a shekel.
If Jews want to live wherever they want it’s “an obstacle to peace” and the Jews have to be kicked onto the street. If Arabs want to live wherever they want screw the law and let them for the sake of ‘peace.’
How’s that song go again? “I think to myself, what a wonderful world.”